'Kathak Gave Me Happiness And Identity': Shama Bhate

With a career spanning over half a century, Shama Bhate, 74, has grown old on stage performing Kathak. The veteran dancer took retirement from public stage performances nearly a decade ago but continues to enthrall audiences with her grace and elegance on select occasions annually. 

 “Age catches up with everyone. After turning 60, I stopped performing actively in public. One can sense that people’s expectations and sensibilities have also changed, they are looking for new faces. Kathak is a demanding dance form and requires more maturity. You need physical strength and stamina, and as you age, you lose agility and virtuosity,” Bhate said.  

In her long career, Bhate has gone from being a young talent, and a lead dancer to a seasoned veteran who also witnessed being pushed aside to take a backseat among a cohort of young dancers.   

 “I wouldn’t want appreciation from the audience out of sympathy for my age or because I am a Guru. Now, people appreciate me more for the dance and not for my ravishing beauty and youth,” she says with laughter. 

 Born three years after India gained independence, in October 1950, Bhate was exposed to the refined world of art and culture, sports, and literature from an early age. After seeing Pandita Rohini Bhate perform, she was drawn to Kathak. She went on to enroll at her dance institute at the age of eight and mastered the nuances of Kathak under her tutelage. “I was influenced by her charisma, teachings, persona, and eruditeness. It gave me happiness and identity. There was no idea of commercial success at that time. I wanted to learn about Kathak as much as I could,” she said.  

Fondly known as Shama tai, Bhate spends most of her time teaching at the Nadroop school in Pune where she has trained hundreds of young Kathak students. She is also engrossed in creating a new body of work and has been credited for crafting traditional and classical compositions—taals, taranas, thumris from her perspective. Straddling between the old and the new, Bhate regards herself as a bridge between the yesteryear and new generation.

 “Our previous generation of artists never left the stage, they were performing for a long time. My generation was caught up in the changing times. Now more young dancers are coming up, there is a lot more competition. It is important for some people to retire, to make space for the young.”